64% of respondents revealed they made their data openly available in 2018, a 7% rise on 2016

Data citations are motivating more respondents to make data openly available, increasing 7% from 2017 to 46%

60% of respondents had never heard of FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability) – which provide a guideline for data producers and publishers to enhance the reusability of academic data.

The percentage of respondents in support of national mandates for open data is higher at 63% than in 2017 (55%)

Respondents who revealed that they had reused open data in their research continues to shrink. In 2018 48% said they had done this, whereas in 2017 50% had done so, with 2016 57% in 2016

Most researchers felt that they did not get sufficient credit for sharing data (58%), compared to 9% who felt they do

Respondents having lost research data has decreased from 2017 (36% versus 30% in 2018)

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We asked a number of questions about FAIR principles this year with some surprising results. The percentage of respondents who reported being familiar with the principles was just 15%, with 25% having previously heard of FAIR and 60% never having heard of them.

The results confirmed that despite publishers, funders and institutions rapidly adopting these principles, there remains a crucial gap in educating researchers. They further show the need for initiatives like Go Fair, which gives researchers clear instructions on how to be FAIR compliant.

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.